Mary Francis - How can I help?

Please note that this episode discusses the reality of human trafficking, the adult entertainment industry, and the sex industry. You won’t want to listen to it with young children.

 

At the fringes of our culture, there are human beings—people made in the image of God—living in a darkness that is hard to imagine. For most of her life, that’s where Mary Francis lived. She was born in Louisville, the last of 15 children, and she moved from one poor neighborhood to another as a kid. Her parents split up, and they passed her back and forth. At fifteen, she went to live with her father, but she was really alone on the streets, vulnerable to people who would take advantage of her. That summer, a man who had originally shown her kindness by showing her attention and buying her ice cream had his sights on exploiting her, which he did for many years. This man took her from one establishment to another, where men used Mary and humiliated her.

 

Even when she finally got free of this man, she found herself trapped in the sex industry, where she stayed for thirty-five years. She knew nothing else, and had no safety outside of this man, to whom she returned. Her story is deeply sad, but filled with profound redemption. Through the kindness of strangers, God drew Mary to him, and now she uses her story to help others. Usually, we try to understand someone’s story through a question, but for today’s episode, I want you to ask yourself the question a stranger asked Mary - “What can I do to help?"